The possibility of ONOC-organised high performance training camps on the Road to Paris 2024 (Summer Olympics) is dependent on National Olympic Committees (NOCs) working with national sporting federations (NFs) to secure commitment.
This is the conclusion of ONOC leadership that participated in a panel discussion at their Secretaries General Workshop, which ended on Friday 11 March, 2022 in Guam. As a result, ONOC’s fifteen Pacific Islands NOCs have been requested to consult national federations to advise on interest before the Continental Association will consider options in France.
The panel included ONOC President, Dr Robin Mitchell (Fiji); Vice President, Baklai Temengil (Palau), and SecretaryGeneral, Ricardo Blas (Guam).
Insights from President, Dr Robin Mitchell (Fiji)
ONOC President, Robin Mitchell said, “It’s important to be realistic about high performance and training camps because ONOC doesn’t deal directly with athletes.”
“Our member NOCs have to work with national sporting federations because athletes are their direct members and also, the NFs, have direct relationships with regional and international federations of their sport.
Mitchell continued, “High performance itself is an ongoing activity; it does not have a fixed time limit as the need to produce athletes is ongoing, and NOCs need to have clear and realistic goals on whether to medal at Games or at the least, athletes qualify on merit.”
“This is why it’s important to set long-term goals, so we are discussing the Games that are two or three Olympiads away, and not the one that’s before us which is Paris 2024.”
However, to assist NOCs in their strategies and planning, President Mitchell said, “It may be realistic for NOCs to prioritise current Olympic Scholarship holders who have already been in training offshore, and in some cases, even locally.”
“We’re only two and half years away from Paris 2024, and while we have options for training camps in France, our advice is for our NOCs not to send new athletes – it is better for athletes who have been participating at high level to attend so that we’re not placing unrealistic expectations on athletes and focused on developing a long-term athlete development programme.
“We also need commitment from our NOCs and their national federations that they will be focused on the programme as it takes a lot of effort and resourcing to establish relationships and partners.
“We have therefore asked our NOCs to return to their countries and initiate conversation with their national federations; they will report back on levels of interest and commitment when we meet at our Annual General Assembly in May.”
Insights from ONOC Vice President, Baklai Temengil (Palau)
Baklai Temengil, Vice President of ONOC shared, “One of the options could be to explore sport-specific training camps.
“Swimming, for example, has a tight-knit family in the Pacific Islands with athletes travelling together for competition and they develop close relationships – both athletes and the swimming federations at national levels have reasonably good relationships and where possible, the option for sport-specific arrangements could be explored.”
Temengil continued, “For this reason, our NOCs need to have good exploratory conversations with their NFs – that is our encouragement – so that athletes can have the best opportunities for preparation, and I agree that there has to be NOCs and NFs commitment to the initiative.”
Insights from ONOC Secretary General, Ricardo Blas (Guam)
Secretary General, Ricardo Blas, added to the discussion by highlighting, “The opportunities for our athletes are endless, but commitment is lacking, and therefore, our athletes are not experiencing the full value of high-performance training camps.”
“We need to be fair to our athletes, have reasonable expectations, and plan forward – we cannot wait to the last minute and select athletes just to make the numbers and put them in situations where their spirits are crushed just because someone wanted to tick a box.”
Blas said, “I reiterate what President Mitchell has said, we need to plan for the long-term, reach athletes when they are young, even when they are still in the school system, and work to build them up and this will take another one or two Olympic cycles – I strongly encourage all our NOCs to work with the NFs on this.”
“Paris 2024 is just around the corner, and we can prioritise participation by those already in the system, but we have the opportunity to plan ahead for the other cycles and we need to use our learnings and work from there.”
Past Training Camps
ONOC has established multi-sport training camps through partnerships and networking, beginning post-Beijing 2008. ONOC worked with the Northwest Development Agency in the UK to prepare athletes for the London 2012 Summer Games, and for those NOCs in the Commonwealth, for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
In preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Games, ONOC worked with the Fukuoka Prefecture and the city of Ryugasaki and Ryutsu Keizai University (RKU) in Japan.
Article adapted from ONOC website.